The Chinese yuan climbed to its highest level against the dollar in more than four years, reaching 6.6967 per dollar offshore—the strongest since July 2022. This advance followed an eighth consecutive session of strengthened daily currency fixing by the People’s Bank of China, the longest streak since 2023. The firmer fixings suggest the PBOC is comfortable with a stronger yuan ahead of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the US.

Still, the central bank has kept its daily reference rates weaker than prevailing market levels, signaling a preference for gradual appreciation. Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, said the fixing signals the authorities’ “intent to narrow the gap between the fix and spot,” adding that “further gains are likely if the fixings continue on their recent trend.” The yuan is now heading for a seventh straight quarterly gain, making it one of Asia’s best-performing currencies this year, supported by China’s surging exports and robust conversion flows, even as rising bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike widen the China-US yield gap to a record.